Citation and License

BMC Proceedings 2011, 5(Suppl 4):S10
doi:10.1186/1753-6561-5-S4-S10

Published: 3 June 2011

Abstract

In pig, very little information is available on the non classical class I (Ib) genes
of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) i.e. SLA-6, -7 and -8. Our aim was to focus on the transcription pattern of the SLA-7 gene. RT-PCR experiments were carried out with SLA-7 specific primers targeting either the full coding sequence (CDS) from exon 1 to the
3 prime untranslated region (3UTR) or a partial CDS from exon 4 to the 3UTR. We show
that the SLA-7 gene expresses a full length transcript not yet identified that refines annotation
of the gene with eight exons instead of seven as initially described from the existing
RefSeq RNA. These two RNAs encode molecules that differ in cytoplasmic tail length.
In this study, another SLA-7 transcript variant was characterized, which encodes a protein with a shorter alpha
3 domain, as a consequence of a splicing site within exon 4. Surprisingly, a cryptic
non canonical GA-AG splicing site is used to generate this transcript variant. An
additional SLA-7 variant was also identified in the 3UTR with a splicing site occurring 31 nucleotides
downstream to the stop codon. In conclusion, the pig SLA-7 MHC class Ib gene presents a complex transcription pattern with two transcripts encoding
various molecules and transcripts that do not alter the CDS and may be subject to
post-transcriptional regulation.